Stop Thinking Offense Boys, Think Defense!
by Firetoflame
Summary: Have you ever wondered what really went on before the newborn attack in Eclipse? Alice may have told Edward that everything would be alright, but while he was busy fretting over Bella, the rest of the Cullen's were dealing with a worry of their own. One-shot inspired by Jacob's comments in Breaking Dawn about Esme not being a fighter. CANON goodness!


Carlisle stood very still, almost as still as the forest around him, his mind buzzing with thoughts that just wouldn't leave. He had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, and though he knew why, he didn't want to admit it. If he didn't have a family to protect from the newborn army that was on the way to kill his son's mate, he would have swept his wife away from this town days ago.

"Jasper, please tell me that some of these feelings are being compounded by you and that they are not all resting on my subconscious alone?" Carlisle pleaded as the worry crept into every facet of his being.

"I'm worried, Carlisle," Jasper said crossing his arms, looking particularly solemn faced.

"I am too," Carlisle admitted quickly. "Wouldn't it be something if our worry was for the same exact thing?" Carlisle sounded weary.

Jasper cleared his throat and Carlisle looked panicked.

"Please tell me you are not here to confirm my suspicions?" Carlisle's head fell into his hands as they moved to slick back his blond locks.

"I'm sorry Carlisle, but she's not ready. They will tear her apart." Though Jasper had meant to be gentle, he couldn't hide his own anxiety, for he loved Esme like a mother and he couldn't bear the thought of her being hurt.

"I thought it was just me, overanalyzing and overcomplicating things as usual," Carlisle whispered frantically.

Jasper shook his head. "She's not a fighter, Carlisle. We can't risk her life too."

"Can we still manage the newborns with another member of our family sitting out?"

"We will have to. The alternative is not something I will accept. Emmett is strong, they won't see that coming. They'll assume they hold the upper hand in that department. Rosalie is quick and agile. She's a natural," Jasper said, assessing each of his family members fighting ability. "Alice has foresight, so I'm not worried about her, and you, well, after over three hundred years; there are certain things that you come to know as a vampire, one of them is the ability to defend yourself. It is an instinct. But Esme…"

Carlisle nodded. He knew where Jasper was headed. "She doesn't have a violent bone in her body," he sighed.

Jasper's eyes flickered to Carlisle's then back to the field where Alice and Emmett were currently having a go at each other.

"She doesn't have that instinct. It makes her weak, Carlisle."

"I know," he agreed. He hated to think about it that way, the genuine love Esme had for the world, for her family. It made her fragile against the raw force that the newborns carried within them. Love couldn't stop their desire to kill, rip, and destroy. They were coming for one reason and they were prepared to die for it. Surely they wouldn't think twice about destroying anything that got in their way.

"I've been taking it easy on her, hoping she would pick it up. But it's not that she doesn't understand, it's just that she can't. She's not physically capable of hurting another person on purpose, even an enemy, and she definitely will not be able to hold her own against a newborn," Jasper spoke confidently. He had experience in this field, more than he cared to have actually, but his senses were sharp and from the several practice fights he had watched Esme partake in, he had determined countless ways he could have destroyed her. It would only be too easy for a newborn to assess the same things.

"Well, I'll be there to help her. I won't let anything happen to her," Carlisle said forcefully.

"I know you won't and that's the problem. You'll be so focused on her all the time that you will become distracted yourself," Jasper explained. "You can't watch her and your back at the same time."

"But-" Carlisle began to protest as Alice rushed in to cut him off. She had appeared from nowhere and had Carlisle been anything other than a vampire he would have jumped out of his skin at her sudden presence.

Rosalie had replaced Alice in the field and Esme was watching her and Emmett wrestle, with avid attention, tilting her head to take in each graceful and powerful movement as beauty battled the beast contentedly.

"Carlisle, I've seen things," Alice fretted nervously, keeping her voice low.

"So you've been lying to Edward then?" Carlisle questioned. Alice had told Edward not to worry about sitting out, claiming that he would miss all the fun.

"Not entirely," Alice said. "But there are paths tomorrow that lead to death on our side. I've seen some of the wolves…" Alice swallowed. "And also Esme," she winced.

Carlisle's face had gone paler than was possible, even for him. "No," he moaned.

Alice nodded. "It's not for sure, the mangy mutts are making the future more unpredictable than usual, but Carlisle, I can't. I won't watch that happen. You have to convince her to sit out."

"Please," Jasper almost begged. The anxious emotions were becoming almost too much for him to bear. It was impossible to keep the apprehension off his face.

"We can't tell her that," Carlisle said suddenly. "She must never know of that future." Carlisle was silent for a moment. "I want to see it," he said finally.

"What?" Jasper asked, confusion lacing his brows together.

"Show me what it will be like for her tomorrow." Carlisle knew that Esme would never agree to this, to sitting out, not easily that is, so Carlisle needed to be sure that it was the right thing to do. He already knew the answer but he needed to see it, to have validation that the best place for Esme was not in that clearing tomorrow.

"Go full out Jasper," Carlisle said.

"Are you sure?" he questioned.

"She needs to see that she can't handle it."

"Okay then, I will need your help."

"What for?" Carlisle asked.

"You think the newborns are going to take turns?" Jasper scoffed. "She'll have vampires attacking her from all directions."

Carlisle gulped. He didn't want to think of Esme like that.

She looked entirely too small and delicate for what was about to happen and Carlisle had to resist the urge to run into the field and scoop her up, protecting her from Jasper's calculating gaze. The realistic part of his brain knew that Jasper would never hurt Esme, they were only training, but the possessive, protective part of him wanted to crush Jasper.

On that note Jasper threw Carlisle another worried glance and Carlisle had to mouth 'sorry' to him for throwing out the strange murderous emotions.

"Okay, Esme, focus," Jasper said to her. "Let all your senses become aware. Remember. Never turn your back on your enemy, but also never let that single enemy become a distraction for what is really going on around you."

Esme nodded.

Jasper lunged at Esme in less time than it took a human to blink and Carlisle watched as their figures moved in blurred stances, Jasper's powerful arms clawing and reaching for Esme as she ducked and dodged, attempting to overtake him. Carlisle waited for an opening and then, seeing it, moved swiftly behind his wife, locking her arms around her back and pulling her head back gently. Jasper gave a disheartened smile and drew his index finger lightly across her neck. Carlisle felt his insides clench. She was dead, metaphorically speaking.

"Carlisle," Esme breathed, confusion clouding her golden eyes as he spun her to face him. Carlisle felt his cold, dead heart sink as he wrapped her in his arms. She clung to him, but not with the desperate passion she usually did. Her body was stiff against his, uncertain.

"I'm sorry, Esme. Jasper just wanted you to experience what it's really going to be like tomorrow with the newborns."

Esme didn't say anything at first, just nodded. Then she looked up at Jasper, her gaze drifting right to the core of his body, as if she could see all the way to his soul. She was disappointed. "I thought you were going easier on me then everyone else," Esme murmured.

"I'm sorry, it's just that, Esme, you're not a fighter," Jasper spoke quickly. He felt as if he were betraying her.

The others had joined their small conversation now, looking sympathetic, all except for Rosalie, who just looked annoyed, but that was her general appearance so no one thought much of it.

"You don't think I'm capable of protecting this family," Esme confirmed to herself. The others looked away nervously or suddenly found their shoes particularly interesting.

"Esme, it's not that," Emmett said, ruffing up the hair on the back of his head. "It's…its'-"

"You can't protect _yourself_," Alice blurted out, but Carlisle stepped forward, before his gifted daughter could reveal anymore, clearing his throat. He thought being direct was the best approach. They didn't have time to waste trying to plead with Esme to be sensible to their request.

"You will not be in that clearing tomorrow Esme. It is quite obvious that you are not capable of fighting a newborn. I can't have you put yourself in danger. I won't let you," Carlisle said with a face of stone. He couldn't let Esme wriggle her way out of this one with a bat of her eyelashes or a pout of her lip as she usually did. It was her life on the line and that is something Carlisle wasn't going to gamble with. He had to be strong, strong enough to say no to the only person in the world he had never said no to before. He couldn't deny her anything, but if it meant saving her life, then he would have to. He would find the strength to refuse her.

Esme blanked, hearing her husband speak so emotionlessly. She could see that he was hiding something from her. He wasn't being truthful. Whatever the reason now, Carlisle had never felt the need to lie to her before. It hurt her, but the feeling of being inadequate, not good enough. It hurt worse: the emotional ache, gripping at her insides, bubbling in her chest like a branding iron was being forced down her throat.

Esme's eyes widened and then the disappointment turned to anger. "I am just as capable as everyone else," she said sternly. But before they could say anything to the contrary she had disappeared on the wind, her scent the only thing telling them that she had returned to the house.

"Oh, damn," Emmett moaned. "She's pissed. Mama Grizzly pissed."

Alice nodded. "Esme _never_ walks away from an argument." And that was true. The Cullen's used to joke about that all the time, seeing as Carlisle and Esme never fought because whenever they disagreed, neither one of them could bear to walk away from the other angry so they would have to come to some sort of mutual settlement.

"You're in the dog house," Rosalie scoffed, looking at Carlisle. She didn't understand why everyone was making such a big deal out of this. It's not like Esme was stupid. Of course it was dangerous, it was dangerous for them all, but Esme would be careful. And it's not like they wouldn't be protecting each other. They were fighting as a family and would look out for each other as a family. Wasn't this the point of the whole battle? To protect Edward's precious little Bella because she's one of the _family_ now? Bunch of hypocrites, that's what they were being. Rosalie secretly thought the men just wanted to assert their masochistic power and if it wasn't for the fact that they would be sorely outnumbered, would probably insist that she and Alice sit out as well.

"I'd rather she be mad at me than get hurt," Carlisle said determinedly, though his eyes followed the path Esme had disappeared down, longingly.

"I hope you really mean that, because if you forbid her from fighting she is going to stay very, very angry," Rosalie said, crossing her arms.

"It's for her own good-" Carlisle began before Rosalie cut him off.

"No, it's not, Carlisle," Rosalie barked. "This is her family too. Did you ever think about how this would make Esme feel?" she asked, her eyes flashing darkly.

Carlisle opened his mouth and then closed it again, sensing that Rosalie had picked up on something he had missed, and no matter what he said, his answer would not be adequate. Carlisle had learned a long time ago that Rosalie was rather perceptive and that it was often in everyone's best interest to listen to her.

"I'm not talking about anger, Carlisle. I'm talking about the kinds of memories this situation will bring up for Esme. Did you ever consider how vulnerable it would make her feel? How out of control? The last time she had no control over what happened to her and she lost the thing she loved the most in the world she threw herself off a cliff."

Carlisle winced and Emmett smacked his forehead with his fist.

"I never thought about it like that." Carlisle folded his arms across his chest. Is that what he just did to his wife? Had he made her feel the uncontrolled feelings of weakness and failure she had experienced in her human life, at that hands of her abusive husband? Had he made her feel that the people she loved most, her children, their family, her husband could be ripped out from under her without so much as the chance to say goodbye like her dead human son?

"But she can't fight-" Carlisle said shaking his head, trying to find a way to defend what he had done.

"So don't teach her to fight," Rosalie said with an obvious sort of shrug.

"What?" Jasper, Emmett, and Carlisle said in unison. They were watching Rosalie as if her hair had suddenly turned into slithering snakes.

"Stop thinking offense boys, think defense!" Rosalie said as she began marching away, but Emmett took her hand, spinning her towards his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist with a look of utter shock and loving adoration on his face.

"I knew all that football would rub off on you," Emmett said smiling like a goofball. Rosalie pushed him away, rolling her eyes.

"Brilliant," Jasper whispered to himself. "We teach her to defend herself, opposed to focusing on killing the newborns. She doesn't have to destroy them, just distract them long enough for someone else to do the dirty work."

Carlisle growled.

"Be reasonable Carlisle," Jasper said, turning to face the head of their family. "It's simple attack strategy. Go for the weakest links."

Carlisle's growl only deepened and Jasper was forced to back away and throw his hands up in surrender as Carlisle began to crouch, an animalistic instinct taking over. Esme would not be a distraction. They had already discussed this when Bella decided she wanted to sit in the middle of the clearing and bleed for the thirsty newborns. Carlisle often wondered about that poor girl's mental health. Either there was something seriously wrong there or she had a death wish. Maybe that's why she desired to be a dead vampire so badly. When most people ran away from danger Bella found herself running towards it. Carlisle tried not to think about that when Edward was around though. He had enough to deal with.

Rosalie huffed, stepping in between them, a potentially dangerous move. If she didn't trust Carlisle wholeheartedly to control himself, she would have been nervous that he might rip her to pieces, but as her hand came to rest on Carlisle's shoulder and Jasper's chest, a calming wave of energy flowed between them, easing the tension immediately. "If we assume they will attack the same way we would, they will try to pick off the smaller of us first, so that puts targets on Esme and Alice," Rosalie said.

"And you," Emmett said, glaring at his wife. He didn't like how careless she was sounding. He wasn't about to forbid her from fighting but she needed to remember that she wasn't infallible, no matter how superior she felt to the newborns.

"That's awfully sexist," Alice pouted. "I'm mean really, just because we're woman."

"Even vampires have prejudices," Carlisle murmured.

Jasper sighed and Rosalie laughed outwardly. "Alice, in your case it's because you don't even clear five feet."

Alice threw her a daggered stare. Rosalie looked away from her, shrugging indifferently.

Jasper placed his hands on his wife's tiny shoulders but she threw him off as she opened her mouth to give Rosalie a piece of her mind but then she froze, her mouth hanging opening in a tiny 'O' as the vision consumed her entirely. Just as quickly as it started the fuzzy world of tomorrow disappeared into the clear surroundings of today and Alice squealed delightedly, grabbing Carlisle hand and smiling widely at Rosalie, her previous annoyance forgotten. "It works," she mused. "That's so much better."

Rosalie threw her hands up and stalked away towards the house, mumbling something about people not listening to her in the first place.

"Whoever said blondes were dumb, was dumb," Emmett said smirking as he took off after Rosalie, still grinning.

His arm snaked around his wife's shoulder only to be pushed away with so much force that Emmett spun and sliced the trunk of a young sapling in half. He looked at her in awe but she glared at him angrily.

"I heard what you said," Rosalie fumed.

"It was a compliment, Rose," Emmett said, looking flabbergasted.

"A backhanded compliment," she seethed.

"You're hot when you're angry," Emmett said with a cheeky grin, taking her hands gently. Rosalie growled but her eyes began to betray her as they melted under Emmett's perpetual cheerfulness.

"And whoever said you were an idiot, was brilliant," Rosalie replied halfheartedly, her hands making their way up to the sides of Emmett's dimpled face.

Alice nodded from behind them. "Bella almost every day, Jasper on occasion, me, Carlisle, Esme, pretty much everyone else we know and random strangers at times. Oh, yeah, Edward calls you an idiot all the time Em, but I think he only says it in his head, so does that count?" Alice wondered out loud.

"Hey, when did this become the bash Emmett contest?" he asked playfully. "All I was trying to do was give the most brilliant and beautiful woman on earth a compliment," he said, his eyes flickering to Rosalie's tight smile.

"You're forgiven," she mumbled and Emmett whooped, lifting Rosalie off her feet, refusing to put her down as their lips locked in a heated embrace.

Alice was grumbling in disgust when they finally broke apart and Jasper looked as if he was in pain. "Even with all the area out here they still manage to infiltrate every molecule of existence with lusty feelings," he groaned. "It must be their combined superpower."

Alice laughed and Emmett whispered, "Cool." He wiggled his eyebrows at Jasper. "Spreading sexual desire, one forest at a time," he boomed loudly, before racing towards the house, Rosalie still clasped tightly to his chest.

Carlisle looked at Alice with a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. "You couldn't have seen that before I went and got myself in trouble with my wife?"

"What? Emmett's new superpower?" Alice chuckled.

"No," Carlisle grimaced dropping his face in his hands.

"You just wish you were that cool, Carlisle," came Emmett's voice from somewhere in the distance.

Carlisle huffed. "I was talking about training Esme a different way. If we thought of that before I said anything then I wouldn't be in hot water right now."

Alice patted his shoulder gently. "You and I both know she's not going to stay angry at you for long. Besides we have some training to do, so go make up already and get your wife out here."

"Do you want to borrow my superpower, Carlisle?" Emmett shouted.

Carlisle groaned.

"Well, it couldn't hurt," Alice agreed. Carlisle gasped at the tiny pixie-like creature.

"What, you know that Esme will sober up and forgive you much quicker if your lips just happen to accidentally find hers while she is shouting at you."

Carlisle felt like he should blush but being a vampire, he couldn't.

He went to say something but Jasper clapped him on the shoulder. "Surprise her, Carlisle. Be bold."

"Hurry up, now. Go, go," Alice said ushering Carlisle towards the house. "We'll be waiting," she chorused before hollering for Emmett and Rosalie, who could be heard giggling somewhere in the woods, to stop fooling around because they had work to do.

Carlisle walked up the steps to the house, despite the fact that he wanted to run. He wanted to race inside and up to his bedroom where he knew Esme would be waiting. She was probably angry and upset, feeling horribly betrayed and particularly useless. And it was all his fault. Carlisle wanted to kick himself for being such an idiot.

He followed her alluring scent up to their bedroom. "Esme," he said gently, entering and closing the door behind him in the same breath.

She was seated in the very center of the king-sized bed; her chin perched on her knees, which were pulled tight to her chest. Her shoulders shook with the tell-tale sign of the tearless vampire sob. It was as close as an immortal could get to crying.

"I don't think I want to talk to you right now," she whispered, before turning her head away from him.

"Beloved," Carlisle spoke softly, moving to block her view of the window where she had diverted her gaze to. The sun slithered in through the translucent curtains and threw blindingly beautiful rays of diamond light around the room as it reflected off his skin: his bare forearms, the back of his neck, the side of his face. Esme felt her breath hitch in her throat. He was breathtaking. But she was angry she reminded herself…why was she angry again?

Carlisle saw the glassy look bleed into her eyes, just as he had hoped. In an instant, taking Alice and Jasper's advice, he bolted from his spot by the window and flew at his wife, sweeping her body under his as his mouth found hers in a desperate, but passionate kiss. His lips were hungry for her touch, her forgiveness and Esme's were longing for his comfort.

When Carlisle couldn't put off the conversation any longer, for fear of getting too wrapped up in his wife and forgetting about the approaching newborn army all together, he pulled his lips away, searching Esme's eyes for approval. Had it been too bold? Was it a mistake?

Esme smiled up at him, pulling him closer to her, so she could bury her face in his chest.

"Would you hate me forever for wanting to protect my wife?" he purred against her hair. "Could you forgive this foolish man if he made you feel fragile and weak? If he made you feel like a failure? It was never my intention, you know that right?"

Carlisle stopped to roll onto his side so he could see her face. He touched the sides of her face in his hands and made her look at him. "Esme, I am so sorry. You have every right to be in that clearing with your family and I will be there, holding your very capable hands."

Esme brought her face to his, her breath lingered, warm and sweet, against his face, her nose rubbing against his, her hands brushing through his hair. Her lips brushed so lightly over his it was almost as if they never touched at all. "You were forgiven the moment I walked away but you lied to me, Carlisle. There's something you weren't telling me."

Carlisle dropped his gaze. He knew she had picked up on that. He saw her eyes shift in the forest with each passing second that he hid the truth form her.

"Alice had a vision, my love. It wasn't for sure, but she saw you…and it was too much," Carlisle swallowed, unable to say the words that Esme somehow understood.

Esme nodded. "I thought this much."

"You did."

She gave him a tentative smile. "What other reason would you have for lying to me, for coming to such a drastic conclusion so quickly and with so little time to spare? I knew it was something heavy that weighed on your heart."

"You always weigh on my heart," Carlisle said, pulling her to his chest, her head fitting into the space under his chin.

"What made you change your mind?" Esme wondered suddenly, feeling his chest rise and fall with each unnecessary breath.

"Rosalie set us all straight, as she usually does."

Esme chuckled. "Tenacious and perpetually right, a dangerous combination."

"If you only knew," Carlisle muttered humorously, placing loving kisses along Esme's forehead. "Now, as it stands, we have a group of eager vampires awaiting our arrival so you can continue your training. It turns out Rosalie's spark of inspiration has once again influenced the future in our favour. Alice had a vision that made her incredibly confident in tomorrow and now Jasper is itching to mold you into a dangerous defensive weapon," Carlisle chuckled.

"Did Alice have any other visions?" Esme wondered out loud. She was being spontaneous so hopefully Alice hadn't received a play by play of everything that was about to happen.

"Well-er, I don't think so, I left to find you shortly after her vision solidified."

"Did she give you a time frame in which to be back?"

Carlisle shrugged. "Not technically…"

"Good," Esme purred against his chest as her fingers worked quickly at the buttons on the front of his shirt. "I think training can wait a few more minutes then, don't you?" And with that Esme rolled on top of Carlisle until she was straddling his hips. Carlisle's hands shot out to capture her waist but Esme was too quick for him and with a smirk pinned his wrists above his head. She pressed a chaste kiss to his lips before a devilish grin spread across her face. "Now let me show you just how dangerous I can be, Doctor Cullen."

"Do your worst," he said, his left hand escaping her hold to affectionately brush a strand of caramel hair from her face. This was one battle that Carlisle would happily let Esme partake in.

*****Since you made it all this way, you might as well review. Please and thank you ;) ... C'mon I asked politely and everything!**


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